Ignition tester



All@ 4, 1959 c. G. sTEFFl-:NSON 2,898,546

IGNITION TESTER Filed OG.. 25. 1955 INVENTOR BEIM ATTORN YS nited States Patent IGNITION TESTER Carl G. Steifenson, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application October 25, 1955, Serial No. 542,637

1 Claim. (Cl. 324-17) This invention relates to a tester for electric circuits of high and low tension, as well as ignition parts and accessories on or about motor vehicles and internal cornbustion engines of all types, and comprises a continuationin-part of my copending application, Serial No. 299,512,

led July 17, 1952, and entitled Electric Circuit and Accessory Tester, and now abandoned.

Ono of the primary objects of this invention is to provide a testing device `by means of which high and low tension voltage electrical leaks, shorts or the like, may be easily detected and traced by any person regardless of their respective technical training.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device of the type described which is adapted to be used in testing the ignition circuits as well as testing accessories used in the ignition circuits such as coils, spark plugs, spark plug Suppressors, distributors, distributor caps, and high tension wires of internal combustion engines.

A further object of this invention is to provide a circuit and accessory testing device which is simple in construction and positive in action.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a testing device which is readily portable and whichmay be produced at small cost. 4

The present invention also contemplates the provision of an emergency device which may be easily attached to a motor vehicle ignition system which has failed to function because of wet ignition wires and will run the vehicle.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a device of the type to which reference has been made above which will run a motor vehicle regardless of open or short circuits in the distributor of the vehicle.

Other and further objects and advantages of the instant Patented Aug. 4, 1959V ICC plug 40. An inverted and reversed substantially L-shaped a hook portion 5S.

invention will become more evident from the following Vence numeral 18 designates, in general, a substantially hollow rectangular casing formed of metal or any other suitable rigid material. tor 12 of conventional construction and which is formed of a substantially U-shaped metal frame 14 having a pair of spaced and substantially parallel side arms 16, 18 connected at one of their respective ends by a bight 20. The bight 20 supports an electro-magnet 22 having a coil 24 and an upwardly projecting armature 26. The electro- The housing 1t) encloses a vibraj magnet 22 is secured to a base 28 formed of a suitable insulating material by means of a counter-sunk screw 30. The base 28 is secured to a side wall 32 ofthe housing 10 by any suitablemeans as, for example, the nuts and bolts 34, 36.

A screw 38 is threaded through a `suitable opening formed in the arm 18 and secures thereto an insulator `connected at 88 to the arm 18.

to the insulator plug 40 by a nut 43 and the foot portion 48 has a depending switch contact 50 xedly secured thereto adjacent its outer end. The depending switch contact 50 confronts a second switch contact 52 xedly secured to one end of a vibrator arm 5.4, and the other end of the arm 54 is pivotally supported by conventional means on the arm 16. As is seen in Figure 1 of the drawing, the vibrator arm 54 extends across the armature 26 and projects beyond the arm 16, terminating in A helicoidal spring 60 has one of its ends anchore on the hook portion 58 and depends downwardly therefrom whereby the other end of the spring 60 may be connected with a hook portion 62 formed on la projection 64 xedly secured to the arm 16 adjacent the inner end thereof. A pair of jacks 66, 68 are mounted in the side wall 70 of the housing lil-and are insulated therefrom by means of the insulating members 72. The jack 66 is electrically connected to the nut 43 and thereby to the screw 38. The wall 74 of the housing 1i? supports a third jack 76, and the wall 78 is provided with a jack 80. The wall 78 of the housing 1'@ is also provided with an insulated aperture 82 to serve a purpose to be described.

An electrical resistance 84 has the opposite ends theret of connected with the jacks 68 and 88, and a center tap while the other end thereof is connected with one end of the coil 24. The other end of the coil 24 is electrically Wire 98 has one of its ends electrically connected at 92 to the end 46 of the L-shaped member 42, and the other end of the wire 9i) extends through the opening 82 and connects at 94 with a spring clip 96. Wire 9S connects the arm 16 with one side of a condenser 191i, the other side of whichpcon-` nects through wire 182 with the wire 98.

For reasons which will become more evident below,-

the jack 66 is adapted to removably receive the plug 184 which is connected through wire 166 with theV inner end of a threaded metallic shaft 188. As is seen in Figure l,

the wire 166 passes through a passage 118 which extends longitudinally through an elongated handle member 112. The inner end of the handle member 112. is formed with a threaded recess 114 which is adapted to receive the inner end of the threaded shaft 108. A lock collar 116 is threaded on the outer end of the shaft 108 intermediate the ends thereof.

A substantially L-shaped spark gap member 118 is fiXedly secured on the shaft 108 by means of a spacer (member 120 which threadedly receives at 122 the outer end of the shaft 108. The other end of the spacer member 120 is also provided with an internally threaded recess 124 which is adapted to receive one end of an externally threaded shaft 126 therein. A seco-nd L-shaped `.spark gap member 128 is mounted on the shaft 126 and is clamped against the outer end of the spacer member 120 by means of the internally threaded lock collar 130. An internally threaded cap 132 is threaded on the outer end of the shaft 126 and has fiXedly secured therei to one end lof a wire 134 insulated at 136. The other end 138 of the wire 134 is flexible to serve functions to beV described below. p

Any conventional spark gap bridge means such as, for example, a pair of spring clamps 148 connected by wire 142 may be employed when desired tobridge the 1 spark gap members 118, 128.

A spring clamp member 144 is connected by wire 146 to a second plug 148 to serve a function to be described.

Wirersw150, 150A, 150B, 150C, 150D and 150B con- 1 `neet the distributor points of a distributor4 152 `withlthe.:

electrodes of the spark plugs (not shown) of a six cylinder internal combustion engine. Wire 154 connects the distributor rotor with the high tension coil port 156 of a conventional automotive vehicle coil designated, in general, by the reference numeral 158. Wire 160 connects the coil 158 with the hot side of the battery (not shown) for the vehicle through the conventional ignition switch (not shown).

It will be understood from the foregoing description of this invention that the wires 90, 106 and 146 are insulated and that the spring 60 normally tends to bias the contact 52 into engagement with the contact 50. Further, it will be also understood that the condenser y100 has a capacity of substantially 0.05 microfad and controls the current surge so that when a high tension coil 158 is being tested the surge is directed away from the switch contacts t?, 52, charging the condenser 100. Immediately as the switch contacts 50, 52 open, the condenser 100 discharges, and the current surge reverses,

through the coil being tested. The increased speed of collapse develops high voltage in the secondary of high voltage circuit of the coil 158 being tested so that the condition of the coil may be determined.

As the `arm 12 is attracted or pulled toward the armature 26, the points 50 and 52 separate and interrupt the ow of current. As the contacts 50, 52 separate, the ow of current is interrupted and the magnetic pull of the armature 26 is substantially destroyed. The spring 60, as has been said above, constantly biases the arm 12 in a direction to close the contacts 50, S2, and as soon as the magnetic pull collapses in the electro-magnet 22 the contact 52 is returned to the contact 50, again closing the circuit and energizing the magnet 22.

The above procedure is repeated at a very rapid speed. Thus the device functions the same as the conventional distributor. The dilerences and advantages being that the engine Whose equipment is being tested is not running, and it can be readily understood how the device simplies the locating of high tension leaks without running the engine, thereby allowing the operator of the device to remove the distributor cap for actual performance tests as well as any other tests.

The insulated handle member 112 carrying the flexible wire 134 is adapted for use for insertion into'ignition coil ports or sockets when testing the coil and also for probing for high tension leaks in component parts. The flexibility of the wire 134 permits it to be bent into different positions so as to be able to probe into various types of coils and to reach equipment located in hard to reach positions. v

The following comprise some of the tests which may be made with the present device. In order to test the ignition circuit, the operator disconnects wire 162 from the coil 158 (distributor side) and removes the high tension wire from the coil port 156. It will now be assumed that the plug 104 is connected with its jack 66 and the plug 148 is connected with either the six, twelve or twenty-four Volt jacks 80, 76 or 68, respectively, depending upon the voltage of the ignition circuit. One of the clips 96 or 144 is now connected to the binding post on the coil 158 which from the wire 162 has been removed and the other clip is connected to a good ground. The [ignition switch is now turned on and if the arm 12 vibrates immediately due to the energization of the coil 24, the coil circuit is good. However, ifthe ann 12 does not vibrate, the operator will look for broken wires in the ignition circuit, a loose connection, a defective ignition switch, or a had or dead battery.

Assuming that fthe above test checks `out satisfactory and it is desired to test the condition of the coil 158, the probe handle wire 134 is injected into Vthe port 156. If a spark appears across the spark gap members 118,v 12.8 the operator may be assured that the coil is good". If the sparkacross the members 118, 128 is continuous and does not appear to be interrupted the coilfis good,

however, if the spark appearing across the members 118, 128 interrupts or if there is no spark thereacross, the coil requires replacement. At this point a further test may be made upon the insulated casing of the coil 158. The operator merely connects the clamps 140 and wire 142 across the spark gap members 118, 128 and moves the end 138, in this case, around various portions `of the casing and if a spark should appear through the insulation, the insulation -is cracked, or porous and the coil should ybe replaced.

if at this point the dilculty in the ignition circuit has not been discovered and remedied it may be assumed, logically, that the distributor points are at fault. These may be checked for make and break without removing the distributor cap. This test is etfected by removing either of the two clips 96 or 144 which was connected with the ground and effect connection of this clip to that end of the wire 162 which was removed from the coil 158. The device is now in series with the coil 158 and the distributor 152 and immediately the operator will or will not hear the vibratory arm 54. Let it now be assumed that with the above-described connection the device is energized and the arm is vibrating. The vehicle motor is now cranked and if the energization of the device is interrupted the points are making and breaking thereby indicating that the points are good. If, however, upon the cranking tof the engine the electro-magnet 22 is not deenergized, the operator will know that the trouble may'be a short in the distributor lead wire 162, one or more shorted pigtails, shorted points, or the points are not breaking.

On the other hand, if the device does not energize while cranking the vehicle engine, the operator should look for a .broken distributor wire lead, a loose wire on the distributor post, loose or broken pigtails, points not making, or a bad gnound in the distributor breaker plate.

In the event the above-described tests have not re- `vealed the ignition circuit fault, the high tension circuit 1s then tested for leaks, the distributor cap included. Under these conditions, whichever one of the clips 96 or 144 was connected with the distributor wire 162 is now disconnected therefrom. The high tension wire 154 is now reconnected with the port 1156 and the cap of the disi tributor 152 is now unbuckled and removed. The clips 140 are now connected with the spark gap members 118, 128 providing a jump wire therefor. At this point it is deemed advisable to state that means other than the clips 140 may be utilized to close the gap between the members 118, 128. For example, an open safety pin has been found to constitute an excellent jump wire. Whichever one of the clips 96 or 144 has been disconnected from the distributor wire 162 is now connected to a good ground. The coil 24 is immediately energized and the probe wire J134 may now be used to search for leaks in the high tension wires of the vehicle ignition circuit, radio spark Suppressors, and both inside and outside of the distributor cap. If a spark shows at the end 138 of the wire 134 during this testing period, the operator is immediately advised of a high tension circuit leak at that point.

This device will accurately test magnetos on or olf the equipment and will run an internal combustion engine which has failed due to wet ignition wires. Under these conditions, nothing is removed from the electrical system and is accomplished by connecting the clip 96 to the distributor primary wire post on the coil and connecting the other clip 144 with a good ground.

Other and further tests may be made with this device and these will become more evident as the user gains more experience.

Having described and illustrated one embodiment of this invention in detail, it will be understood that the same is offered merely by way of example and that the invention is to be limited only by the scoperof the folloW- ing claim.

What is claimed is:

As an article of manufacture, a circuit testing device comprising a housing, a plurality of jacks mounted on said housing, an electro-magnetic vibrator xedly secured Within said housing, said vibrator including an electromagnetic coil and a vibrating arm having a switch contact on one end thereof disposed in confronting relation relative to a second switch contact mounted on a xed arm, a condenser electrically connected between said vibrating arm and said fixed arm, a iXed resistance connected between two of said jacks, said resistance being tapped intermediate its ends and connected with a third jack, a fourth jack electrically connected with said vibrating arm, said electro-magnetic coil having one of its ends electrically connected with one of said first jacks and the other end thereof electrically connected with said fourth jack, a conductor having one of its ends electrically connected With said xed arm and having a clip at the other end thereof, a second conductor having a plug connected at one end thereof for selective reception WithinV any one of said rst three jacks, a clip mounted on the other end of said second conductor, eithei of said clips being connectable to the distributor side of the ignition coil, and the other clip being connectable to ground, a third conductor having a plug Xedly secured thereto for reception in said fourth jack, a handle member surrounding a portion of said third conductor, said third conductor having a fixed spark gap means disposed therein, and removable means for closing said gap.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,108,674 Beck Aug. 25, 1914 1,765,479 Benson June 24, 1930 FOREIGN PATENTS 647,115 Great Britain Dec. 6, 1950 

